You opened an account with The Co-operative Bank because of its ethical values. You shuddered when the first news of its £1.5bn financial black hole emerged. You cringed over lurid stories of its “crystal Methodist” chairman. You came close to leaving when the hedge funds took control. Now, as the bank puts itself up for sale, should you finally abandon your account – or hold on, hoping that its values survive?

Even its natural friends are losing faith. The Move Your Money group, which campaigns for “equitable and sustainable banking”, says: “The truth is that this is the last spin of the dice for a desperate and downtrodden institution.”

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Move Your Money launched an ethical bank scorecard in 2013, but found The Cooperative Bank “was not quite as ethical as it liked to portray, lagging way behind all other ethical providers, and even most challenger banks. Since then, it has come under fire for drug-addled executives, culling branches, vulture fund owners, and ongoing IT failures – hardly a differentiator from the major banks in those regards.

“More damaging are the ongoing capital inadequacies, and, even worse, for its ethical image, the poorly handled and frankly egregious attempt to dump social justice campaign groups from its customer base”.

In late 2015, it shut the account of the Wales Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, although it insisted it was not a political or discriminatory move.

But Shaun Fensom, a customer of The Co-operative Bank and enthusiastic supporter of its values, sees things differenly. He acknowledges there have been management failures, and that it was “badly run and overstretched”. But he believes existing customers should stay and fight to maintain its principles. He helped set up the Customer Union for Ethical Banking, which has 1,500 members from The Co-operative Bank, and says record numbers have signed up since the sale was announced.

“We are saying that now, above all, is the time to join the customer union. We want to see the ethical policy stay in place because without it the bank will be doomed. It would be a commercial disaster to drop it. I certainly don’t want to move my account. I want it to be a successful, customer-led ethical bank.”

Fensom points out how, in the wake of its disastrous merger with Britannia building society and near financial collapse, the bank asked members about revising its ethical policy – and the response was that customers wanted a strengthening, not weakening, of its ethical stance.

The Co-operative Bank has been at pains to say that it is not abandoning its principles. A spokesperson told Guardian Money: “Cooperative ethics and values are embedded in the constitution. It is business as usual for day-to-day banking. The sale is about building the capital position for the future, not about us meeting our minimum capital requirements today. This announcement has no impact on the products and services customers have with the bank.”

Without the ethical policy the bank would be doomed. It would be a commercial disaster to drop it

Customer Union for Ethical Banking

It says it remains consistently in the top five for customer service in the UK, and even its critics accept there is no risk of a run on the bank. Customers are protected by the £85,000 cover under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and the “core” bank (if one ignores some of its legacy issues) is making a profit.

Independent expert James Daley of Fairer Finance says: “It has performed surprisingly well for its existing customers since its troubles a few years ago. Its customer satisfaction ratings have been improving, as has its complaints performance – so the latest news about its future is disappointing. It’s true that it was not offering any particularly radical products for new customers – but it felt very much like it’s been in a time of recuperation and rebuilding.

“In the immediate future, I’d suggest that customers sit tight. As long as they’ve got no more than £85,000 with the bank, there’s no material risk to their money – and even then, the chances of the bank going bust is relatively slim.”

Judged purely by its products and services, though, it only receives average ratings. Antony Elliott of the Fairbanking Foundation, a charity which encourages banks to improve the well-being of customers, says: “Its retail products were not top in our most recent report. While it has long been regarded as the bastion of ethical banking, we are now seeing both challenger and traditional banks genuinely focus on products which have their customers’ financial well-being at their heart. The future of fair banking in the UK does not depend on whether a single bank survives.”

Will the new owner, whoever it turns out to be, respect its ethical heritage?

“One popular theory is that the TSB is likely to take over, because of its ‘ethical and local’ approach to banking,” says Move Your Money. “This is a complete misnomer – the TSB is no more ethical or local than any other big high street bank. It is structure rather than policies that make a bank truly ethical – and the TSB doesn’t have either.” (TSB was bought by Sabadell of Spain soon after it was spun out of Lloyds).

How much of a blow will a sale of The Co-operative Bank be to the very concept of co-operatives? Stuart Coe, chief operating officer of umbrella group Co-operatives UK, and a Co-operative Bank customer, believes any buyer will have to maintain the values the bank has championed. He argues that the co-operative model is thriving in the UK, not least the Co-op supermarkets, which will relinquish their 20% holding after its sale.

“Co-ops contribute £34bn to the UK economy, with 17.5 million people who are members of a co-operative, a 15% rise on the year before.”

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The alternatives if you want to move

The Co-op Bank is the only UK high street bank with a customer-led ethical policy, covering a range of issues from the environment to animal welfare. It currently gives £110 to people who move to its no-monthly fee current account via the industry’s switching service (which involves closing your old account) and port over at least four active direct debits. If you pay in a minimum of £800 into its Everyday Rewards account you may qualify for a £5.50 reward each month. But Move Your Money gives the Co-op an ethical score of just 51 out of 100, questioning how a bank majority-owned by hedge funds can sustain an ethical approach.

Nationwide is a building society owned by its members that is probably the likeliest destination for Co-op refugees. It scores highly on customer service, has a broad national branch network and a complete suite of current account, savings and loan deals. Its standard Flex Account has no monthly fee, although its £10-a-month FlexPlus account is highly rated by MoneySavingExpert.com’s Martin Lewis for its range of extras, such as travel insurance, breakdown recovery and commission-free cash withdrawals abroad.

Triodos Bank has the strongest green and ethical credentials among the rivals to Co-op Bank, declaring this week that its long-awaited UK current account will open for business on 26 April. Move Your Money gives the Bristol-based bank its highest score, 92 out of 100. But we don’t yet know the full details about its current account, and Triodos has no high street branches. It says it will only lend to organisations “who put people and the planet before profits,” and publishes details of all its borrowers. Organisations it has lent to include chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage HQ, Brighton arts venue Komedia and the Big Issue Foundation Scotland.

Ecology building society is dedicated to building a greener society - but it only offers savings and mortgage deals. Based in West Yorkshire, it has little more than 10,000 customers.

Engage is the name of the new current account from selected credit unions which offers most of the things you would expect from a 21st-century bank account, from a fully functioning mobile app to a contactless debit card. The Engage account is aimed at people “who prefer a more ethical approach to finance”, as well as those who have been rejected by the high street banks. It is being offered by a handful of credit unions, including Lewisham Plus Credit Union in south-east London (which also trades as Bromley Plus Credit Union), Hull & East Yorkshire Credit Union and Hampshire Credit Union, with more due to sign up. But beware monthly account charges, which start at £5.95 a month.

Three other providers that are rated by Move Your Money are Metro Bank (77/100), which has 48 branches (or “stores”), mainly within the M25; Handelsbanken (75/100), the UK arm of the Swedish bank of the same name with more than 200 branches, each of which can decide its own terms and pricing; and Al Rayan Bank, formerly known as the Islamic Bank of Britain (74/100), which offers an “ethical and Sharia-compliant” interest-free account.